TRENTON — Mayor Tony Mack touted the fact that his administration has overseen the repaving of 75 city roads in the last three years at a City Hall press conference today.

Mack said the quest was to make “this city driveable again” by filling potholes and cracks in the streets that had previously been neglected.

“This is the best our streets have ever been,” Mack said standing in a room peppered with photos of recently-paved roads. “These are the streets that were transformed, basically; transformed from potholes and cracks to the beautiful surfaces you see today.”

Mack said the city will continue to resurface and identify streets that need reconstruction.

“We have, without question, a few more challenges when it comes to roads,” Mack said.

VIDEO: Mayor Mack talks about the condition of streets in TrentonTrenton Mayor Tony Mack and Hoggarth Stephen, Principle Engineer & Acting Director of the Division of Engineering &Transportation
Speak at a “Streets and Avenues Initiative” press conference in City Hall’s Atrium on Wednesday, September 25, 2013. Martin Griff / The Times of Trenton

Hoggarth Stephen, the city’s principal engineer in the bureau of traffic and transportation, said the city is moving to do more paving work “in house” with city employees, rather than by hiring contractors.

Stephen said that in the next two weeks the bureau will do a blitz of resurfacing on eight to 10 streets before the weather turns too cold to pave.

“We have about $600,000 that we will put toward paving out streets,” Stephen said. He said the bureau will use those funds to buy about 26,000 tons of asphalt.

Stephen said the city determines what roads are in need of paving with a “pavement management system” that was developed in 2000.

He said a few larger projects are also slated to be completed within the next year, including the reconstruction of North Montgomery Street between Perry and Front Streets, Clinton Avenue between Tyler Street and Hamilton Avenue and on South Broad Street between Lalor and Liberty Streets.